Paul Ryan Provides Almost No Bounce In Polls For Mitt Romney Campaign

Remember when Sarah Palin flew into the Presidential election in 2008 like a bat out of hell? Overnight she single-handily revitalized the John McCain camp, and it looked like he was in for a victory thanks to his unorthodox choice. Paul Ryan, on the other hand, is hardly a bat out of anywhere; in fact, according to the most recent Gallup poll, he more or less fell out of the sky like a diseased bird.

According to the poll in the four days since the Paul Ryan VP decision, 47 percent of registered voters say they would vote for Romney and 45 percent say they would vote for Barack Obama if elections were held today. In comparison, 46 percent had said they would vote for Romney and 45 percent chose President Obama before the Paul Ryan vice-presidential choice was made.

There is the chance that Romney could experience further poll increases in the following days as he fared slightly better from August 13 and 14 compared to August 11 and 12.

While Sarah Palin caused quite the stir during the 2008 election, there was also no big voter preference jumps during that election. Gallup notes that the last big jump came in the 1996 through 2004 elections.

Before 1996, it was especially hard to determine the impact of Vice Presidential choices because running mates were choice at the party’s nominating convention. Typically the Republican and Democrat conventions provide a bounce of their own, and, therefore, determining the effects a vice presidential running mate choice had was much harder.

The biggest questions surrounding Paul Ryan’s nomination could be answered on August 27 in Tampa, the site of the Republican convention.